Chapter Seven: Dr. Martinez, meet my twin!

AN: Okay guys. First of all, if you have been waiting for almost five months for me to update, you probably hate me. So I'm sorry. I am a high schooler and as such have things like homework, sports tournaments, tests, and the dreaded FanFiction killer, Final Exams. I'm just saying that I have valid excuses.

But I intent to make things right. I will finish this story, even though it's not as exciting to me as it once was. It is, however, my first FanFic and I WILL FINISH IT!

Miranda: *yawns* Wow. What day is it? JUNE! ICBN, YOU PUT ME TO SLEEP FOR FIVE MONTHS? What's wrong with you?

Nudge: Miranda! You're alive! I thought you were in a coma, thanks to ICBN…

Me: Sorry, girls. I will make sure this story is done by the end of summer, I PROMISE!

Angel: Hi!

Nudge, Miranda, and Me: Go away, Angel.

Angel: Geez, after five months, SOMEONE'S a tad cranky…

Me: Anyways… after five months, HERE WE GO! YAY!

Miranda POV

The next afternoon, we touched down in a well-manicured lawn that stood before a two-story red brick house, somewhere out west. I noticed Fang, Nudge, and Angel watching me warily. And they should. Any second I could snap and go murderer on them.

Max, on the other hand, only stared at the house with anticipation. Unlike the rest of us, she had met both of her parents. Ironically enough, some guy named Jeb had raised the Flock, ditched them, turned against them, and joined up with them again. Max practically hated him. But Dr. Martinez and her daughter Ella, Max's half-sister, had cared for Max when she had been shot in the shoulder a long time ago. I could tell Max really loved the Martinezes. She walked up to the door and rang the bell.

The woman who opened the door instantly seemed kind, intelligent, capable, and understanding. Even though we were a motley crew of kids and teenagers who were still in the process of pulling our wings into our jackets, she didn't miss a beat as she grabbed Max into a hug and went around shaking everyone's hand. She came to me and looked at me with a question on her face. "Didn't I just see you…?"

Nudge stepped in. "Dr. Martinez, this is my twin sister, Miranda. Miranda's the newest member of the Flock."

"It's nice to meet you, ma'am," I said in my ultra-polite voice. I wanted to make the best impression on Dr. Martinez, since she would eventually be examining my brain for any mind-controlling chips from an evil international organization. Gosh, never new that sentence would summarize my life story…

"Miranda, welcome. All of you come inside!" I walked in and nearly collapsed. The scent of chocolate-chip cookies entered my nose and I practically blanked out. I hope I wasn't drooling. Dr. Martinez was still talking, "Since you called ahead, Max, I knew you'd want your favorite treat!"

She led us into the kitchen, where the largest, most delicious-looking platter of chocolate-chip cookies sat in a steaming, sweet heap. We dived at them, shoving each other away and pushing as many cookies as we could into our mouths. Animals.

A girl with Max's eyes but long dark hair came bounding down the stairs. "You're here!" she screamed and went around hugging, just like her mom. "Max! Fang! Gazzy! Angel! Nudge! Iggy! Nudge- wait a minute. Are there two of you?"

"I'm Miranda. Nudge's twin sister. You must be Ella."

"Nudge? You have a twin? So cool!" And I got a hug like everyone else.

Later, after we had finished stuffing our faces like rabid wolves, the Flock, Dr. Martinez, and Ella all sat down in the living room. "So, Miranda, I assume you are… like the rest?"

Like the rest? Assuming she meant the wings, air sacs, hollow bones, etc., I replied. "Yes, ma'am. Um, only for a few months though." I shuddered as I remembered the pain, torture, experimentation. All from that Dr. Polymer. Man, when we meet again, UGH!

"Mom, there's a problem. Something's up with Miranda." Max told Dr. Martinez everything that had happened since they met me.

"Well, that is quite a story. You've been through a lot, Miranda. I would be happy to run some tests-"She noticed the Flock's collective wince at the word "tests" and rephrased it. "I could take you down to my veterinary office and take some X-rays in the morning. We'll figure this out."

Just then the doorbell rang. Ella answered it, and called out, "Max, there's, uh, some people here that…"

A tall man with rectangular glasses and a smaller red-headed woman entered the home. I didn't know much about the Flock's history, but even I could feel the tension in the room. Conflict was imminent.

Max POV

I felt my vision tunnel in when I saw two of the many people on my "List". My list is not a good list, more like a list-of-people-to-beware-and-protect-the-Flock-from.

Jeb and Brigid.

I stood to my feet, eyes shooting daggers at them. "Well, well, well. If it isn't my traitor dad and his little fire-haired doctor friend. Some nerve coming back here, huh? Wonder why?" I stood there, sarcastically pondering the question. "I've got it! You want to mess with Miranda! Or maybe yet, kidnap us or even kill us? Good luck."

"Max, that's no way to greet a friend!" Brigid said in her annoyingly cheery voice and too-white smile. I watched her eyes as they took in the faces of everyone present. "Oh, have you found Nudge II?"

I glanced at Miranda as she joined my side. To my surprise, she shook Brigid's hand and explained who she was. Something wasn't right. Miranda's face twitched a bit at the touch of Brigid's hand, and Brigid seemed cold.

I turned my attention to Jeb. "What are you two doing here?"

"We just wanted to say hi, Max. How are you?"

"Really, do you always ask that question? For your information, I'm doing great, soaring the skies above America, going to Austin, battling ITEX's newest humanoid weapon giant, rescuing Nudge's long-lost twin sister, teaching her how to fly, and barely stopping her from strangling Angel, and traveling to my mom's house to try to figure out how to remove a possible mind-controlling computer chip in her brain. How's life in your world?" I was saturated in sarcasm.

He seemed stunned as he stared at Miranda. "You… you never were supposed to… Dr. Polymer must have done this." Jeb's voice was filled with unusual fury at this "Dr. Polymer" person.

Though dreading every moment of it, I informed Jeb and Brigid on all that happened to Miranda. I couldn't help but notice that Brigid was staring at Nudge's sister the whole time. "How interesting," she muttered every now and then. I could practically see the scientific gears churning in her red-haired head of hers. For good or bad, we would find out later.

Brigid POV

It was great to hear the results of the Authority Test firsthand; even though I knew the basics of the story, I had to play dumb. It was everything we hoped for, and more! There was one thing I had to make sure of. I asked the Flock, "Was there anything unusual that happened around the time of the 'episode', as you call it? Anything that seemed to trigger it or occurred through that time period?"

Naturally, Nudge was the first to blurt out, "Miranda's eyes weren't brown the whole time! They changed to this creepy blue color!" I could tell she was really worried about her sister, but ah well, everything was in the name of science.

Iggy, to my surprise, also spoke up, "I was flying, and I heard some radio waves traveling through the air to the building that the others were in. It stopped, I guess around the time Miranda's episode stopped." The blind one could pick up the radio waves? That was an issue that would need to be reported to Dr. Polymer tonight. They would need to further scramble the frequency in the future.

Jeb, a man who I do not particularly admire but am able to use to my purposes, seemed confused, as usual. "What I still do not understand is how easily Miranda was rescued from ITEX. And why they haven't sent anyone to find you yet." Uh oh. Old Batchelder was getting close to the truth. Too close for comfort.

I broke in, "Well, everything will be revealed in the morning. Dr. Martinez can X-ray Miranda's brain for anything strange and with any luck, questions will be answered." I couldn't help but notice Max's always suspicious glance now trained on me.

Miranda POV

This Brigid person was seriously giving me the willies. First she walks in, and I see Fang wince slightly at Max's outraged expression. Then she asks if I'm Nudge II, but I have a feeling she knew exactly who I was. The ultimate signal was when I shook her hand. Even though I wasn't really having an 'episode', I felt some sort of energy through touch. Probably left over from the last 'mind-game' I had with Angel. Brigid was bad, I just knew it. And I know she knew I knew. Man, that sentence is pretty confusing to write correctly. Anyways, Max and Brigid were sending off really tense vibes, and Brigid ended the conversation too quickly. Something was seriously up.

Dr. Martinez, being the kindly, caring, compassionate woman she is, allowed the entire Flock, Jeb, and Brigid to sleep in her huge house. That night, I lay awake on the couch, just pondering my really messed-up life, when I heard a door open and close. Then I felt the tap, tap, tap of feet on the hardwood flooring. I breathed deeper, acting asleep. The creeping person went out onto the porch after the coast appeared clear to him/her. Being a mutant-bird-kid actually came in handy, as I could just barely make out a whispered voice in the porch outside. I couldn't tell who it was; some people just sound identical with whispers. This person seemed to be communicating with someone over a phone.

"Everything is going great. There are just two concerns… Scramble the radio frequencies… Yes, even more than they are now… The other problem is physical… The irises… Yes… Yes, I understand… Absolutely… Over and out." I realized that I was leaning over the edge of the couch in the process of eavesdropping, and now I lost my balance. Oops. I hit the dark, hard panels with a THUMP, and the mysterious stranger spun around.

With speed previously unknown to me, I jackknifed to my feet (coolest thing ever) and assumed what was hopefully a threatening-looking fighting stance. "Who are you?" I called out in an attempt at a brave voice. Instead it came out like a mouse squeak.

"I am… about to make sure no one knows of this!" The voice… It was Brigid! Dangit, I knew that lady was dangerous.

I braced myself for hand-to-hand combat, like I had seen Max and Fang one afternoon when they were sparring. Unfortunately, lovely Brigid wasn't going to take any chances. Like the cartoon character Quick Draw McGraw, she pulled out a shining black pistol. For me, time slowed down. Who knows? In this world I had recently discovered, with winged children, mind-controlling chips, and gun-toting enemies, maybe time wasn't always constant. Slow-motion, Brigid aimed, cocked, and fired.

I saw the bullet inside the chamber of the pistol zoom out, lightning-fast even in slow time. I saw it travel. Ten feet away. Nine feet away. Eight feet, seven, six, five… There was no time to dive out of the way. It almost seemed like I was going to die, but two things happened, and both, saved my life that night.

First, I felt my eyes shiver, if that's a description that works. My brain… tightened I guess, and the crazy strength from a few days ago poured into my body once more. I barely registered the thought, Please don't be like last time, when the bullet stopped two and a half centimeters from the spot between my eyes. I kind of stared cross-eyed at it, partly because I was in shock and partly because I was in concentration to keep it from zooming into my skull.

The other thing that prevented my death was none other than my twin sister, Nudge. In the time it took for me to stare down that bullet, she had raced into the room. Somehow the pistol in Brigid's hand flew into Nudge's and then melted in her grasp. With the weapon taken care of, she leaped up into a spinning kick and a second later, Brigid was lying on the ground gasping for breath. Nudge walked over to me, wary of me because she probably saw my focused face and blue eyes. She reached up and pulled the bullet out of my vision (thank goodness I have a sister!), and with the threat gone, my worked-out brain shut down and I passed out.

A.N. So I hope you all liked it! I hope it was long enough for ya, seeing as you poor folks had to wait five months (FIVE MONTHS!) for me to update. So yeah, again, since this is summer, I will definitely finish this story.

Miranda: Am I getting superpowers like the rest of the Flock?

Me: We'll see.

Nudge: ZOMG! That would be, like, so totally cool if, like, she could rival Angel with mind abilities!

Angel: Sorry, Nudge. I am a one-of-a-kind.

Nudge: *muttering* Yeah, a one-of-a-kind monster in a little cherub's body.

Me: Nudge, that was a little mean.

Miranda: Well, what do you expect, ICBN? And are we ever going to figure why Angel scrambled my thoughts anyways? In fact, this whole situation is really her fault!

Nudge and Me: Yeah…

Angel: Hey, don't gang up on me! *runs away in terror*

Me: All will be revealed in time. So please R&R! Oh, and Kleenex will hopefully be back soon! Until next time!